An early winter in the Alps. Temperatures fell this week and there are those who are thinking of starting the ski season early. At Cortina, the snow “cannons” are in operation on the peaks and in the ski area of Faloria one is counting on opening the slopes already on November 13. That is nearly a month earlier than the classic “ponte dell’ Immacolata” that traditionally opens the snowy season throughout the Alps. …Barring any spectacular reversal of the meteorological trends and following last year’s extremely long [lunghissimo] winter, which only ended in May, this will be the shortest summer-fall interval without skiing ever recorded.

And here a headline to a story in yesterday’s NYTimes on “climate-friendly” foods: “To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates”. The actual weather is apparently not a story.